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Seventeen days before Christmas, the Toronto Star’s Santa Claus Fund’s running tally went over $1 million in donations.

A week before the Christmas Eve deadline, the fund still needs $268,860 to cover the expenses of delivering 45,000 Christmas gifts to needy children across the Toronto region.

Thousands of volunteers collaborated to move the gifts from warehouse to distribution depots to the eager hands of children across Toronto, Ajax, Brampton, Mississauga and Pickering. All that remains for the perfect ending is your financial donation.

Rarely, in its 110 years of existence, has the Santa Claus Fund failed to reach its goal. That’s because readers get it. They know what it’s like for a kid to miss out on the most basic of expectations in our culture: a Christmas gift.

So, Star readers donate to the fund in denominations of ones, tens, hundreds and thousands of dollars to keep the charity going. Some who received a Santa Fund gift decades ago, now leave generous gifts in their estate or make annual contributions.

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The largest ever gift was $100,000 from an estate. The smallest? Pennies. Every bit helps to deliver the smiles that keep the volunteers returning each year.

Five years ago, Marcia Brown was one of 100 volunteers who shuttled the gifts from the depot at the Toronto West Seventh-day Adventist Church to nearby homes in Rexdale.

“I loved it. I was just really inspired by the kids we met. One family invited me in and I could see they didn’t have much. They needed that gift. They were so grateful we spent the time to come out and deliver a gift,” Brown recalls.

This year she brought 50 volunteers — all youths from Trust 15, a community- based agency Brown created to mentor boys and girls in Rexdale; one that has grown to more than 200 boys and girls.

“I tell them to not just deliver the gifts, but introduce themselves to the people. At first they say, ‘whatever,’ till they experience it. Now, they all want to go out.”

Emily, a co-op student from Humber College, describes her first gift-delivery day on Dec. 4: “Things like this don’t happen in the small town I’m from. The reaction from the kids when they get the gifts is just priceless. It was just so nice to be able to do something nice for people.’’

It’s all about the kids. That’s what drives the 100 or so volunteers at my depot. A few years ago I wrote a column about the Star’s Fresh Air Fund being short of donations. A benefactor responded with a six-figure donation. Motivated, I met with Barb Mrozek, director of Toronto Star charities and philanthropy, to make a donation myself. To my surprise, she was already on to planning for the paper’s next charity — the Santa Claus Fund. Mrozek needed a new depot to receive hundreds of Christmas gifts in Rexdale.

I was hooked.

My church, at the corner of Martin Grove and Albion, had re-calibrated its ministries with a view to being more community focused. Here was a perfect partnership, a match made in heaven. That year, about 1,500 gift boxes filled the gym and our member volunteers worked their magic. This year, the total was 1,300 boxes.

Seniors who can barely get around, hobble to doors with the beautifully coloured gift boxes. Drivers ferry the foot soldiers. Lead Pastor Errol Lawrence, his car packed with gifts and Trust 15 kids, made two trips this year. And, always, the chatty, effervescent teens from the church’s Cassiopeia Pathfinder club, provide the energy.

Logistically, that’s how 45,000 gifts get to doorsteps across the GTA.

In the old days, in the early 1900s, when the Santa Claus Fund started, city workers, fire fighters and police officers did most of the deliveries. Today, volunteers include Scouts, Guides, Pathfinders, church members, college students, TCHC staff, Star staff and family members plus more than 500 volunteers from the general public.

Finding depots to store the gifts for what might be a month is a challenge that Mrozek meets every year. Churches are stepping up. The Kingsview Village Seventh-day Adventist Church heard about our Rexdale experience and asked to be a depot. They moved some 900 boxes to the Dixon Road area this year. And when the depot at the Woodbine Centre closed this year, the Perth Avenue Seventh-day Adventist church stepped in and combined with the Boy Scouts to drop 500 boxes.

The volunteers are almost always exceedingly happy when they return. Except, this year, one pathfinder returned to the church depot disturbed.

When she tried to deliver the gift boxes the adult at the address would not take it. The children had been taken away by the Children’s Aid Society, Casana was told. Another difficult lesson learned.

All across our city, the story of Christmas takes different forms and lands with such diverse impact — even as we say, “Peace on Earth, goodwill to all.”

To all those who stop our delivery volunteers with, “How does my child get one of those,” here’s how:

Families who wish to register for the Star box must apply through Ontario Works/Disability. Parents receiving social assistance can ask their social worker how to apply. Others can apply at one of the 130 community service agencies that are partnered with the Star fund. They will screen families for eligibility for next year.

For 110 years the Star has played Santa to millions of needy children. This year’s presents are all delivered now. All that remains is your financial gift to keep the joy flowing.

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